Darrell Rasner didn't get hurt. He left Saturday night's game against the A's behind by a run, but he walked off under his own power, and as far as anyone knows, he didn't need a trainer to patch him together afterward. For the Yankees, this was practically a fairy-tale ending.

He is a 26-year-old rookie who has not lasted longer than six innings in a major-league game, and the Yankees need him. He was supposed to start Tuesday and replace Mike Mussina, whose 38-year-old left hamstring is acting its age, but Carl Pavano's perpetually high-maintenance physique intervened. Manager Joe Torre needed Rasner's arm to perform triage.

So there he was on the mound, wearing No. 61, throwing to Wil Nieves, a catcher with 142 days major-league service heading into this season. Rasner, by comparison, was an old-timer. He had 154.

Other teams go through this stuff all the time, piecing together lineups. The A's swear by spare parts. But vulnerability doesn't suit the Yankees, and as a team, they look shockingly fragile.

On Saturday night, they managed to beat the A's 4-3 in 13 innings after losing the night before in 11, partly because Rasner didn't unravel when Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano each committed an error behind him in the first two innings. In the end, the Yankees had four errors and won primarily because of the rookie and the bullpen, the one element of their team that remains overwhelming.

The scouting reports issued appropriate warnings, but seeing them up close, inning by inning, brings home how reduced they are. The reputedly thin pitching staff is actually emaciated, much like the bench, and the lineup has a greater intimidation factor on paper than in reality.

Perhaps watching the Yankees wither in October so often the last few years has stripped away an aura, and the talent hasn't changed that radically. Or maybe it's merely the fact that Hideki Matsui resides on the disabled list. But something is clearly missing from this team.

One of the New York beat writers pointed out that the 2000 team had a relatively underwhelming lineup, and visions of Scott Brosius at third and Ricky Ledee in left came rushing back. Glenallen Hill and Jose Canseco spent time on the roster, too. Of course, that team had Roger Clemens, plus El Duque and the first pinstriped incarnation of Andy Pettitte, on the pitching staff. And in the end, it had a World Series trophy, too.

Giambi and Damon, a pair of colorful, irrepressible characters, each shed part of himself to become a Yankee. The transformation went beyond frequent visits to the barber. They are still vital, important players, but they aren't linchpins the way they were in Oakland and Boston. They can't be.

Alex Rodriguez is another story. The Yankees exiled Alfonso Soriano, a homegrown star, to get him, and he was tagged a soft pretender last year, not a true Yankee. But he is staggeringly talented, and his powerful start this spring suggests a grit that, if it flourishes, could make the Yankees more intriguing than they've been in a long time.

They didn't make huge moves in the offseason, poaching other teams' stars. Mostly, they looked backward, paying to hold onto Mussina and return Pettitte to pinstripes.

They have said they want to replenish the farm system, breeding Yankees more than buying them. (Rasner technically wouldn't count because he was claimed off waivers from the Nationals last year.) The Yankees gave up on Williams, but they still have Jeter and Rivera and the ever-imposing Posada, who pinch-hit for his backup, Nieves, on Saturday night and doubled in the tying run in the seventh. "I told you, he's a good bench player," Torre deadpanned later.

When the Yankees lost the bidding for Dice-K last winter, the Boston victory called to mind New England's gloom four years ago, when the Yankees snared another pitcher from the international market, Jose Contreras. That did nothing for New York. The following year, A-Rod veered away from Fenway at the last minute and ended up in the Bronx -- another giant transaction that didn't look so big on the field.

Now, they're reduced, scraping by, and not terribly scary. That's the best route to a fairy-tale ending.